Associate Professor James SmithOffice of Pro Vice Chancellor – Indigenous Leadership, Charles Darwin University; &Visiting Fellow, National Centre for Student Equity in Higher Education, Curtin University&Adjunct Research Fellow, Collaboration for Evidence, Research and Impact in Public Health, Curtin University

Negotiating respectful community engagement approaches to promote higher education pathways among remote Indigenous communities: experiences from the Whole of Community Engagement initiative

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Acknowledgement

I acknowledge that this presentation is being delivered on the traditional land of the Nyungar people and pay respects to elders past, present and future.

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Acknowledgement

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Acknowledging collective efforts

I would like to acknowledge the collective efforts of the WCE team. Whilst this presentation is largely based on my own reflections, they are drawn from our collective experiences.

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“CDU is deeply committed to serving Indigenous people and particularly those in the Northern Territory. The Australian higher education experience shows that low participation, high attrition and low academic success rates by Indigenous people are commonplace. This needs to be disrupted; but universities cannot do this in isolation. Key partners – indeed the leaders must be communities and families. This is best led through whole-of-community engagement processes.”

Professor Steven Larkin, Pro Vice Chancellor – Indigenous Leadership, Charles Darwin University

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Whole of Community Engagement (WCE) initiative:

• Funded through the Higher Education Participation and Partnership Program (HEPPP)

• $7.5 Million – project from July 2014 until June 2016

• Working with up to six remote Indigenous communities (in both Top End and Central Australia)

• Large-scale multi-site Participatory Action Research project

• Underpinned by a partnership approach

WCE Background

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Aim:• To work with six remote Indigenous communities across

the NT to build aspiration, expectation and capacity to participate in higher education

Objectives:• Explore current community perspectives of higher

education, and linking with existing strategies for achieving quality of life aspirations;

• Co-create ongoing opportunities for community, research, academic and public policy leaders to engage in mutually beneficial and critical relationships; and

• Identify means for making education relevant and culturally and physically accessible;

WCE Aim and Objectives

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Gunbalanya (n = 1,200+)

Maningrida (n = 3,500)

Galiwin’ku (n = 2,100+)

Yirrkala (n = 840+)

Tennant Creek (n = 3,060+)

Yuendumu (n = 810+)

Which communities:

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Steering Group oversee project (est Feb 2014)Site selection criteria developed over the following four months (n = 20).

Example selection criteria: Enrolment data – Yrs 9-12 Completion Data – Yr12 VET enrolments and completions - CDU and BIITE Existing educational programs and projects Infrastructure – i.e. learning centres, child and family

centres Bandwidth

Note: Communities were not involved in this short-listing or preferred sites

How were communities selected?

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Program Manager appointed 1 July 2014 Tentative site selection early August 2014 Staff Recruitment August-September 2014

Community Engagement Leaders x 3 Mentor and Enrichment Officers x 3 Teacher Liaison Leader Project Co-ordinator Evaluation Manager (0.5FTE)

Staff commencement Sept-Oct 2014 HREC approval Oct 2014 Community visits commence First Indigenous community-based researcher

commenced in Jan 2015

Project Timeline

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Unique opportunity to recruit to positions simultaneously

An opportunity to consider existing relationships staff had with preferred communities

Need to push boundaries on institutional recruitment policies and processes (Western vs Yolngu knowledge)

Staff Recruitment

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What do the terms ‘community’ and ‘community engagement’ mean to you?

What does culturally respectful ‘community engagement’ look and feel like?

How do you know if you have achieved successful ‘community engagement’ (or not)?

Questions to ponder

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Put simply – we didn’t define ‘community’

There were different views about ‘community’ among partners, staff and Indigenous citizens

A realisation was reached that each participating ‘community’ was best positioned to advise us about what the term meant to them

Community representatives were invited onto the Steering Group in consultation with key cultural authorities after sites had been selected

There were differences in cultural understandings of what a ‘community’ constitutes

There is no consensus in academic scholarship about what a ‘community’ constitutes in Indigenous contexts

How did we define community?

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There were differences in staff, local community and public opinion and peer-reviewed evidence about how to define community engagement (CE)

There are differing discourses relating to ‘engagement’, which can impact the socio-political context

There were differences in experiences among staff and participating communities about preferred CE approaches

There were different theoretical conceptualisations and positions about CE, including underpinning principles and values

There were different CE frameworks and models

Defining Community Engagement

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August 2014 March 2015

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Defining Community Engagement

Sunday Canberra Times, 16 November 2014

Project Brief used during the inaugural community visit to Yuendumu in 7-9 October 2014

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Ethics & Community Engagement

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Logistics of Community Engagement

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Logistics of Community Engagement

Cyclone Lam – 19 February 2015

Cyclone Nathan – 23 March 2015

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A quest for common Community Engagement models and tools

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Journal of Community Engagement & Scholarship Inter-sectoral term Principles of community engagement:

Relational and partnership approaches (Dempsey 2010; Johnston 2010)

Empowerment (Dempsey 2010)

Consultation (Johnston 2010)

Collaborative practice (Dempsey 2010; Johnston 2010; Kotze et al 2013)

Sustainability (Clifford & Petrescu 2012; Ramachandra & Mansor 2014)

Collective impact (Barnes et al 2015)

Indigenous community engagement (Cervone 2007; Campbell & Christie 2008; Madden et al 2013)

Higher education and community engagement (Campbell & Christie 2008; Dempsey 2010; Bernado et al 2012; Clifford and Pertrescu 2012)

Theories & Principles of Community Engagement

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Engaging with communities on their terms

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How do you know if community supports your activity? Who is best positioned to provide this support? What evidence do you need? Verbal confirmation (but from whom) Letters of support Meeting minutes (quorum can be

problematic) Artwork

Recruiting community-based Indigenous staff

Communicating in local languages

Reflections about engaging with communities on their terms

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Ultimately our dream is of a conversation between a parent and a child that starts with: “So, what degree are you planning to study for when you go to university?”

We want this dream to become commonplace

rather than an exception.

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Associate Professor James Smith Whole of Community Engagement - Program

Manager Office of Pro Vice Chancellor – Indigenous

Leadership Charles Darwin University

T. +61 8 8946 6328 | M. 0455 088 501

james.smith3@cdu.edu.au